La Dolce Vita

Brescia offers a variety of opportunities for spending a pleasant evening characterized by cheer and good food. Moreover, university students give this industrious city a verve that is significantly lacking in other Lombardy cities, except for Milan. However, it on the weekend that life explodes on the city's piazzas and streets. In the old town center behind the Piazza della Loggia, Piazza Paolo VI and Piazza Vescovato, there is a large concentration of restaurants, wine bars and cafés. The easiest route for sampling the flavor of Brescian “movida” is simply from Via dei Musei to Via S. Faustino. And don't overlook scenic Piazzale Arnaldo, which has lately become the most “in” place for an aperitif. By now, it's become a well-established trend in Lombardy's cities: in the evening between 7:00 and 10:00, the young people meet in nightspots for sip abundant glasses of pirlo (white wine with Campari or Aperol) accompanied with appetizers and other snacks.
Brescia has two important venues for a night at the theater: the Teatro Grande is the city's temple for classical music and opera, while the prose theater is the Santa Chiara, built in a former convent.
In Brescia, there's no big problem continuing the evening late into the night but the places tend to be outside the center. In the summer, its a tradition to walk up to the castle to enjoy the loveliest view in Brescia and spend the evening at the tables of the cafés. The province has a great many famous discos, with the majority in Desenzano and Sirmione on Lake Garda.